What is this course about?
Deze cursus wordt in het Engels gegeven.
Day 1: Introduction. A series of rapid and longer duration drawings in charcoal and oil paint.
Day 2: One day pose.
Days 3, 4 and 5: Two poses which will continue over three days – one pose for the morning painting and a different pose for the afternoon painting.
This course is designed to help the student further develop their skills in painting the figure from life whilst also enabling an increase in the expressive aspects of their painting skills.
Under Alan’s guidance, students will concentrate on developing the relationship between life drawing and painting whilst considering mark-making, colour and the handling properties of paint. These elements will be fused together over the five day course by firstly making several drawn studies in both dry materials and oil paints, followed by a one day oil painting and thereafter, two more oil paintings developed over three days.
The consideration of accuracy of observation and measurement will be looked at in relation to freedom of expression, exploration of materials and engagement with an expressive and individual painterly language. We will consider composition, approaches to drawing with paint, colour palettes, and finding the “story” of a painting in technique.
Students will receive regular one-to-one guidance throughout the course, as well as presentations showing the relevant work of both historical and contemporary figurative artists.
For who?
This course would suit students who have some experience and want to improve or develop a more loose/expressive approach.
About the teacher
Alan McGowan is a Scottish artist whose figurative life painting is noted for its expressive brushwork and dynamic use of colour in combination with lively and sensitive draughtsmanship.
His painting has featured at the BP Portrait exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Threadneedle Prize for Figurative Art, the Society of Portrait Sculptors exhibition and The Ruth Borchard self portrait exhibition as well as regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy. In 2014 he was a semi-finalist in the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the year and his work is featured in the international painting annual review INPA5, published in 2016 by Manifest in Cincinatti USA.
He has taught at a number of art institutions including the National Portrait Gallery London, The Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin and Edinburgh College of Art. He has exhibited widely in the UK, regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy, and in New York, Lisbon, Helsinki, South Korea and Prague, and his work appears in several public collections including that of the Royal Scottish Academy and Stirling University.
Book publications of his work include The Language of the Body (2012) and Unstill Life (2017) .